Representatives of the East Coast Partnership have come together to improve performance on the East Coast route, as part of the event known as the Coffee Cup Run.
Senior leaders, infrastructure experts, engineers, and operations specialists from a number of organisations were all part of the run, which saw them travel along the route between Edinburgh Waverley and London King’s Cross to assess the journey, and identify issues that could impact performance, reliability and safety. Once identified, the team will collaborate to develop solutions.
Organisations represented include:
- Network Rail
- LNER
- Hitachi Rail
- Northern Trains
Despite the Coffee Cup Run originating from an early concept that saw a coffee cup placed on a train table, before seeing how much coffee is spilled – indicating any track issues. Now, the methods are more sophisticated with cutting edge monitoring systems and information being livestreamed to engineers as they look to identify any challenges.
Joint Head of Performance for the East Coast Partnership, John Grainger, said:
“We’ve taken an innovative approach to the issue of collaboration and engagement with the aim of improving performance on the East Coast route. By bringing together experts from different organisations, we’re helping to forge new relationships and, importantly, our teams get to see at first-hand how their actions can have a direct impact on the customer’s journey experience. We believe the Coffee Cup Run sets the standard for future industry collaboration and that initiatives such as this will be invaluable to ensuring we deliver the high-performing, customer-focused railway of the future.”
This year, focuses are being placed on infrastructure issues, with this including overhead lines, cable theft, and the impact of weather on services. The positive impact of technology on improving performance is also being assessed.
Image credit: iStock
